With the highly developed semiconductor technology, the currently available integrated circuits (ICs) have a largely reduced volume than before. To enable the ICs to process more data, the number of elements and components included in the current ICs is often several times of that in the conventional ICs having the same volume. However, heat produced by the ICs during operation thereof increases with the growing number of electronic elements and components in the ICs. For example, the heat produced by a common central processing unit (CPU) at full working load is high enough for burning out the whole CPU. Therefore, it is important to develop effective heat radiating means for the ICs.
Generally, a thermal module is made of a metal material with high heat conductivity. In addition to the mounting of a cooling fan to carry away the heat produced by heat-producing elements, the thermal module in the form of a radiating fin assembly is frequently used to obtain an enhanced heat radiating effect. In some other cases, heat pipes are further provided on the thermal module to more quickly transfer and dissipate heat, so that products with ICs are protected against burning out.
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional thermal module 1, which includes a heat radiating base 11, on which a tubular groove 111 is provided; a radiating fin assembly 13 mounted on a top of the heat radiating base 11, and a heat pipe 12 received in the tubular groove 111 to locate between the heat radiating base 11 and the radiating fin assembly 13.
The radiating fin assembly 13 includes a plurality of radiating fins, each of which is bent at a lower edge to form a flange 131, and a downward opened curved notch 132 is also formed at the lower edge of the radiating fin.
When the radiating fin assembly 13 is mounted to the top of the heat radiating base 11, the curved notches 132 are engaged with the heat pipe 12, and the flanges 131 are pressed against the top of the heat radiating base 11. With these arrangements, heat transmitted to the heat radiating base 11 and the heat pipe 12 maybe quickly transferred to the plurality of radiating fins of the radiating fin assembly 13 via the flanges 131 to thereby provide upgraded heat dissipating efficiency.
However, the following disadvantage is found in manufacturing the above-structured conventional thermal module 1:
Generally, metal parts are connected to one another by way of welding. Therefore, the radiating fin assembly 13 is connected to the heat radiating base 11 by welding the flanges 131 to the top of the heat radiating base 11. Thereafter, the heat pipe 12 is extended through the tubular groove 111. Since the heat pipe 12 is not always a fully straight member but might include some bent portions, there are clearances existed between the heat pipe 12 and the tubular groove 111 to create the problem of thermal resistance, resulting in a reduced heat conducting efficiency between the heat radiating base 11 and the radiating fin assembly 13.
It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop a radiating fin assembly for thermal module that enables a heat pipe to tightly contact with the heat radiating base of the thermal module to ensure good heat conducting efficiency of the thermal module.